Revell 49 Mercury Engine color?

[Patrick2005]

I am building this Merc and I want to try to make it period correct and it seems that factory it would have come with a flat head. My question is what type is it and what color should the engine be that is included?

[Ace-Garageguy]

The flathead engines from the Revell '48 Fords should be right. The Merc and Ford engines differed very little, other than displacement.

The engine in the Revell '49 Merc is a first-gen OHV Cadillac V8, which went into production in 1949. It was a popular engine to swap for the flathead, particularly before 1955 when the smallblock Chevy engine was introduced.

The Caddy engine can be any color you like, as it would have most likely been sourced from a junkyard and possibly rebuilt (or at least painted) before being put in the Merc.

BUT, the stock color for the Caddy engine is a dark blue.

Edited July 5, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Force]

If you want to swap out the Cadillac engine in the Revell Mercury kits the Flathead engine in the 48 Ford will not be correct, that engine is a 59AB and 1948 was the last year for that engine, the 1949 Mercury's and Ford's had the for 1949 new 8BA (Ford) and 8CM (Mercury) and that engine was available until 1953.

The most noticable differences are the placement of the distributor and the water outlets on the heads, passenger side front mounted angled distributor and front water outlets for the 8BA/CM, timing gear cover mounted distributor and center water outlets for the 59AB, both engine types had 24 head bolts, studs with nuts for the 59AB and bolts for the 8BA/CM.

If I would do a conversion I think I would take the engine and transmission from the AMT 49 Mercury as you get all necessary attachments such as correct air cleaner and other stuff.

The Mercury 8CM engine should be light green.

Edited July 5, 2015 by Force

[thatz4u]

I used the AMT 49 Merc flattie in mine

[Ace-Garageguy]

The flathead engines from the Revell '48 Fords should be right. The Merc and Ford engines differed very little, other than displacement.

The engine in the Revell '49 Merc is a first-gen OHV Cadillac V8, which went into production in 1949. It was a popular engine to swap for the flathead, particularly before 1955 when the smallblock Chevy engine was introduced.

The Caddy engine can be any color you like, as it would have most likely been sourced from a junkyard and possibly rebuilt (or at least painted) before being put in the Merc.

BUT, the stock color for the Caddy engine is a dark blue.

If you want to swap out the Cadillac engine in the Revell Mercury kits the Flathead engine in the 48 Ford will not be correct, that engine is a 59AB and 1948 was the last year for that engine, the 1949 Mercury's and Ford's had the for 1949 new 8BA (Ford) and 8CM (Mercury) and that engine was available until 1953.

The most noticable differences are the placement of the distributor and the water outlets on the heads, passenger side front mounted angled distributor and front water outlets for the 8BA/CM, timing gear cover mounted distributor and center water outlets for the 59AB, both engine types had 24 head bolts, studs with nuts for the 59AB and bolts for the 8BA/CM.

If I would do a conversion I think I would take the engine and transmission from the AMT 49 Mercury as you get all necessary attachments such as correct air cleaner and other stuff.

The Mercury 8CM engine should be light green.

He's right, I'm wrong. Take Hakan's advice here on the flathead.

[Force]

Of course you can leave the Cadillac engine in it if you want to, the Cadillac engine swap was so popular that Ford's and Mercury's with Cadillac engines were called "Fordillac" and "Mercillac"...and as Bill says, a stock early Cadillac OHV engine should be dark blue with white Cadillac scripts on the valve covers.
Ford themselves didn't switch over to OHV engines until 5 years later, 1954 with the 239 Y-block.